Crime Time

Some readers upset after Houston Press releases list of "10 Hottest Women on the Texas Sex Offenders List"

Some readers and a sexual assault prevention group were a little upset by Houston Press blog post on Thursday that offered what it deemed to be the "10 Hottest Women on the Texas Sex Offenders List."

Here's an excerpt from the intro to the list:

"We combed through 15 of the biggest counties in Texas and came up with the ten hottest women in the database. Warning: In some cases, we picked out the best of a series of mugshots. Alternative choices were starkly different. So click on each link before you send any marriage proposals."

Several of the women featured on the list were in Fort Worth.

The Huffington Post did a reaction piece to the list and spoke to Torie Camp, a deputy director of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA) who said, "This kind of thinking that female sex offenders are harmless seductresses rather than predators or perpetrators can set us back decades."

After some readers got "riled up," the list's writer Richard Connelly added a note to the list that reads:

"I can understand how some people might react to this. On the other hand, it's a way of getting readers to look at the info, maybe get theme to realize there are people out there like this and they all don't look like the obvious stereotypical pervert."

It's good to note that Connelly wrote an explanation of why he wrote the list along with an apology later that day, which can be found here.

Given both sides of the argument, would you say that the list was in bad taste?

Let us know what you think.

-Chance Welch

Former Indianapolis Colts cheerleader sues team after dismissal over racy photos

A former National Football League cheerleader is suing the team she once cheered for after she claims that she was fired over some racy photos.

Indianapolis TV news station WISH reports that Malori Wampler, a cheerleader for the Indianapolis Colts for the 2010-2011 season, has sued the team for discrimination after she was let go in November 2010 when club officials received some pictures of her in a painted-on swimsuit.

Wampler claims in the suit that the pictures did not violate the team's code of conduct because they were taken before she became a Colts cheerleader.

The lawsuit claims that there's a double standard against female employees and that numerous male players have previously broken the club's conduct rules and have not been dismissed.

Wampler claims that team officials told her that her former affiliation with Playboy would not be a problem when she was hired.

-Chance Welch

Officer who arrested TV news crew demoted over another case

You may recall the story we had last month about the KVIA Channel 7 television news crew that was arrested in El Paso while covering a big-rig crash on Interstate 10.

The camera man videotaped the entire episode and many people expressed opinions that the police sergeant involved in the arrest had over-reacted. The news crew was released by the officer's superiors when they were taken to the station.

The El Paso Times reports today that the police officer -- Raul Ramirez -- has been demoted from sergeant to officer after an internal affairs investigation into another incident involving use of excessive force against a fellow officer.

The demotion had nothing to do with the news crew arrest, the paper reported. The last thing I saw about that case said that police internal affairs officers were awaiting statements from the two journalists.

-- Lance Murray

Chief: Officer over-reacted by arresting TV journalists at crash

Here's an update on the story from earlier today on the arrest of the two KVIA Channel 7 journalists in El Paso as they covered a crash on Interstate 10 in that city.

El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said Tuesday said that the officer may have overreacted when he arrested the reporter and photographer at the scene of the big-rig crash.

Allen watched the video of the arrest, The El Paso Times reports, and later said he believed that Sgt. Raul Ramirez "somewhat overreacted" and did not enforce the alleged charge to all the bystanders who had stopped in the median of the higway to look at the crash.

Here what the Times reported Allen said: "It kind of concerns me because the charge that the sergeant was out there supposedly enforcing appeared to be randomly being enforced. When you have the media and the public mingling together -- definitely -- if one is interfering then that means all of them are interfering. So if general citizens of the community are being allowed to stand by and watch what's going on, then the media should have as well."

An internal affairs investigation is under way into Ramirez's handling of the situation.

You can watch a video of the arrest here.

-- Lance Murray

Video: El Paso TV crew arrested covering highway accident

An internal affairs investigation is under way against an El Paso police sergeant who arrested a television news crew covering a major highway accident.

Sgt. Raul Ramirez arrested Channel 7 reporter Darren Hunt and photographer Ric Dupont as they covered the crash involving an overturned big rig on Interstate 10.

Police commanders later released the newsmen when they were brought to the station. Watch Dupont's video of the arrest and see if you think the officer was justified or if he over-reacted. Notice how the officer goes past the other people stopped on the median out of curiosity and singles out the news crew, even physically grabbing the video camera and putting it on the ground.

-- Lance Murray